Antonio's Precious Tomato
by FeverousFanFiction
Summary: One-shot.


**Hello, this certainly isn't my best work. It's a bit of an older piece I had floating around, I'm sure you all expected better. I'm hoping to correct this later. I just switched campuses for college, so that's delayed a good deal of my projects along with my personal life. I'm going to try to get back to a usual schedule. My novel is still set to be released in Nov. on wattpad. Pm me about any questions/or comments not related to this new little story.**

Antonio's Little Tomato

Romano looked at the darkness around him. Tears gathered in his eyes as he realized that he was lost. There was left with nothing else but to cry and hope that Spain would come save him. It was stupid of him to run away, even if he was going to get into trouble. The boy thought about how at least he would be warm, feed, and safe instead out being cold, hungry, and lost. In short, Lovino was absolutely miserable and it was his own fault once again.

Where was the bastard?

... (Flashback)...

Lovino sat with his arms crossed and kicked the legs of the chair he sat on. He was not in a good mood, not at all. Plagued by bad dreams the night before, he had woken up cranky. Antonio had still given him chores, ones that while suitable for the chibi's young age, they were still chores. That made him even more upset.

"Cheer up Roma," The Spaniard said setting out a rest bowl of tomatoes along with some pre-cut chicken and rice on a plate for the child. "It's a nice day." Indeed the weather had been rather pleasant, not overly hot but not chilled either.

"No it's not," The boy mumbled shoving a red fruit in his mouth and chomping loudly. "You are making me do stupid chores!"

"They need to be done, Lovi." Antonio said gently, not minding the rudeness. "I can't do them all by myself, I have things to do from work. You're a big boy."

With a large pout, Romano shouted, "I don't wanna do them!"

"I'm sorry." The man was sorry about it too, but he couldn't do it all and still have time to play like the little one would expect. "But, if you do this we can go into town tomorrow and have some fun. Si?"

"No," Lovino said slamming his little, chubby fist down on the table, inadvertently causing his plate to fall on the floor and smash.

Antonio sighed heavily and scolded, "Naughty Roma, calm down. And please be more careful."

"Why should I, dickface?" nastily the little one replied.

"Last warning, Lovino." Antonio said with an authoritive tone. "You're acting like a little mocoso."

The child looked at Antonio in eye and pushed his cup of water over.

"Go stand in the corner, Romano." The man said, seeing no other choice. If the child wanted to behave so poorly, it was best he was given time to calm down.

"No!" Lovino shouted, looking almost as if he was surprised by this information. "I don't wanna."

"If you don't want me to smack your bottom you will," Antonio told the little one. He was crediting the bad mood to simply being cranky, and didn't need to be spanked unless he still didn't listen. "Now behave, please Lovino."

"No," Romano said crawling off his chair and walking slowly over to the corner. "I'll be good, I promise Toni." He sniffled a little.

The man sighed, what was he going to do with this little chibi?

... (Present)...

"Roma!" Antonio shouted, searching for what little he could see in the dark for his lost little one. Southern Italy had been his first colony, and he was trying very hard to take good care of him. But, losing the boy might be the wrong way to care for a child. This was partially his fault too, that he was sure of.

Finally, after what had to have been a solid thirty minutes of searching, he could hear faint crying. He slowed down and silenced himself to listen further. The man's heart stop the sight of his little boy curled up on the ground, worried that the worse had happened.

Brown eyes stared up at him, full of tears. "T-toniiii," Lovino whined loudly, tears running down his face as his arms stretched upward as a sign to be picked up.

The nation didn't hesitate at all and picked him up, "Lovi, you had me worried." Thankfully, the colony seemed to be in perfect condition, other than some extra dirt.

Lovino snuggled into his guardian's chest, one cubby fist held on to Antonio's shirt with a death grip while the other rubbed at his eyes. "I'm sorryyyyyy 'Toni." He cried, scared by his adventuring.

Antonio rocked him gently, "What are you doing out here? I thought you were in bed."

"I was trying to run away," Romano said with a big sniffle. "You've been acting like a bastard about the cleaning and everything else."

The Spaniards heaved a sigh, "I wasn't doing it to be mean, I just wanted you to do a few little chores." The fact that it had upset his little one so much bothered him, but running away did not please him either. "And I'm not too happy about you doing that Roma." He gave the boy a half-hearted attempt at being stern.

Lovino knew where that talk was going and he didn't like it at all. Antonio wasn't a complete bastard, like the child liked to call him. He was rather easy going about most rules, and usually all the Italian received for punishment was a time out. But, there were times when he was too naughty or too out of control for just a few minutes in time out to solve which was when his little bottom got smacked.

"No 'Toni," he whined and squirmed to escape. "No spanking! I'll be good, I promise!"

Antonio wasn't cruel by any means, "Chico, you said that earlier after your timeout, remember? I warned you then." Of course, that didn't make the Spaniard are feel any less guilty about what he was going to do. The boy was an absolute terror, but Antonio had a hard time getting himself to spank his little tomato usually. It wasn't any less difficult that night.

Lovino was still squirming and protesting when Spain positioned him over a bent knee. His cries increased after three hearty swats to his wiggling bottom, as Antonio had a large hand that could cover his bottom with ease and wasn't a light spanker.

The man pushed through the punishment, not wanting Romano to think of pulling this little stunt again. It had scared him, honestly. With a little nation the biggest worry was if another nation kidnapped him. Not everyone was as nice to subordinates as Antonio, many of them grew up in a time where children Lovino's size were expected to pull their own weight and heavy punishment was dealt if not. Yes, the child was spoiled, but the nation prefer him having a childhood. Spankings were just a part of that, and Lovino would have to live with it.

The little ones cries were loud in the otherwise silent wooded area. Antonio sighed and carried him back, trying his best to hush the lad. He knew that Lovino was overly tired though, cranky, and sore now, so there was little hope of getting him to stop.

Romano's whines died down to only little sniffles when he saw the house. "'Toni, 'Toni..." he whined and fussed.

Antonio patted his back, "Shhh, chico. Let's get you in the tub and then it's off to bed."

"No, Espaina." Lovino protested rubbing his eyes. "Don't want bath."

"But you're dirty. You don't want your bed to be dirty, do you?" Antonio tried some gentle reasoning, which was usually his parenting style.

"No, but... but..." Lovino stamped his feet as his shirt was pulled over his head.

"We'll be quick, Lovi." Antonio promised. "Warm water will make you feel better too."

The child unhappy sat in the water while Antonio did the hard work of viciously scrubbing the dirt off of him. He whined and protested the whole thing, but largely was too tired to fight it all that much, which was lucky for Antonio.

The man was through at washing, as Lovino was filthy. But, soon the water got too cold for the child to sit there in comfort and had to be taken out, even if there was still dirt behind his ears.

"Feel any better, Lovi?" The Spaniard asked taking the boy's hand to lead him to bed.

Romano rubbed his eye and held on tightly to Antonio, "Si. But...But I-m hungry big brother."

The man sighed, of course he was. After the disaster that diner was, he shouldn't have been surprised at all. "Just a little snack, then. Okay?"

Lovino nodded, he was starting to get sleepy, so he wasn't much for fighting at the minute. "Can I have tomatoes?"

"I think you need a little more than tomatoes," Antonio said, only to be confronted with a large pout. "But, I don't think one would hurt." He couldn't say no after all that happened, after all Romano had a rough night.

Antonio made a small grilled sandwich using leftovers from the diner that the boy did not eat. The man watched over the little one as he dug in, only sighing at the mess that was being made in the process. "Slower, 'Mano, you don't want to choke." He warned gently.

"But, 'Toni…" Lovino whined as soon as he had swallowed.

"Just take it easy," The Spaniard replied patting his back. "After this it is bed time."

…(Time Skip)…

Antonio sat leaning over his paperwork, wanting to rip his hair right out. With Lovino being send to bed he had no choice but to actually get to work. The words were starting to blur together as he read political change over political change. Luckily other than reading and signing it, he did not have to do much else.

The shuffling of little feet against his hard wood floor made him sigh. Turning around Antonio spoke, "You should be in bed, don't make me put you there again. Please, Lovi." For the love of tomatoes that child needed some sleep, otherwise the next day would be a whole new form of hell.

Lovino puffed out his cheeks and blush slightly, "I want you to sleep with me, bastard."

"Eh?" Antonio said surprised, since Lovino wasn't usually like that. Of course the man loved to cuddle and hug the boy, but generally Lovino didn't like it. With regret Antonio left him alone in that regard for the most part. "I have work to do..." he trailed off looking at the cute face again, completely unable to say no. "But, I guess we should both be in bed. Since it is so late."

The boy stopped pouting and lifted up his arms, ready for bed this time. "I want a story too."

"Si, si," Antonio at this point was just going to do it if it meant he could sleep as well.

After just a few minutes of softly speaking Antonio watched the small child close his eyes for a good night's sleep. "Buenas noches, mi pequeno. "Antonio whispered to the slumbering child.


End file.
